5.  The applicants are Turkish nationals.
6.  They are all serving sentences in Turkish high-security prisons, where the authorities refused to dispatch their letters written in a language other than Turkish. They all brought proceedings before the competent domestic courts to oblige the prison authorities to dispatch their letters, but to no avail.
7.  At the time they lodged their applications, the applicants were serving their sentences in the F-type prison in Tekirdağ or the Bolu prison high‑security prison.
8.  On 14 January 2008 the Disciplinary Board at the applicant’s prison proceeded, in accordance with section 68 § 3 of Law no. 5275 on the execution of sentences and preventive measures (“Law no. 5275”), to check a letter the applicant had written to another prisoner in Kurdish. After reminding him that letters should in principle be written in Turkish, they informed him that they could not have the letter translated, for lack of staff, so they were unable to ascertain, as required under Rule 122 § 1 of the Regulations on prison management and the execution of sentences (“the Prison Regulations”), whether the content of the letter was “inoffensive”. They therefore decided to return the letter to the applicant.
9.  On 28 January 2008, on the basis of the case file, the Bolu enforcements judge dismissed the applicant’s appeal against that decision.
10.  On 12 February 2008 the Bolu Assize Court, also dismissed an appeal lodged by the applicant against that decision.
11.  On 21 and 26 September 2007 the Disciplinary Board decided to keep one letter written by each of the applicants in Kurdish. Arguing that the prison had neither the staff nor the money to have them translated, they explained that the letters could be sent once they had been translated, at the applicants’ expense, by a sworn translator and their content had been found to be inoffensive.
12.  On 6 November 2007, based on the case file, the Tekirdağ enforcements judge dismissed an appeal lodged by the applicants. That decision was reached after the judge examined the public prosecutor’s submissions, according to which “it [was] necessary to have the correspondence – which was written in a language other than the official language – translated in order to have it verified in accordance with section 68 § 3 of Law no. 5275; there [were] no legal provisions requiring the prison to cover the cost of the translation; as the interested parties themselves had not paid for a translation, there [was] nothing unlawful about the impugned decisions”.
13.  On 19 and 27 November 2007, based on the case file, the Tekirdağ Assize Court dismissed an appeal lodged by the applicant against that decision, having found no legal or procedural defect.
14.  On 10 October 2007 the Disciplinary Board decided, pursuant to section 68 § 3 of Law no. 5275 and Rule 91 § 3 of the Prison Regulations, to seize a letter the applicant had written to his mother in Kurdish. They explained that they had been unable to decipher the content of the letter because the prison staff did not understand Kurdish.
15.  On 22 November 2007, based on the case file, the enforcements judge dismissed an appeal lodged by the applicant. That decision was reached after the judge examined the public prosecutor’s submissions, according to which “it [was] necessary to have the correspondence – which was written in a language other than the official language – translated in order to have it verified in accordance with section 68 § 3 of Law no. 5275; the prison [had] no budget for translation costs. As the interested party had not paid for a translation himself, there [was] nothing wrong with the impugned decision”.
16.  On 18 December 2007, based on the case file, the Assize Court dismissed an appeal lodged by the applicant against that decision, having found no legal or procedural defect.
17.  On 2 May 2008, the Disciplinary Board decided not to send a letter the applicant had written to his mother in Kurdish, because they were unable to have it translated and thus to understand its content and determine whether it was “inoffensive”.
18.  On 26 May 2008 they reached a similar decision concerning a letter written by the applicant to his sister in Kurdish.
19.  On 20 May and 18 June 2008 respectively, on the basis of the case file, the Bolu enforcements judge dismissed the applicant’s appeal against those decisions not to send his letters, considering that the Board’s decisions were fully in keeping with section 68 § 3 of Law no. 5275 and Rule 123 § 1 of the Prison Regulations, as it had not been possible to determine whether the content of the letters matched any of the criteria set forth in section 68 § 3 of Law no. 5275.
20.  On 6 June and 11 July 2008 respectively, basing itself on the case file, the Bolu Assize Court rejected the applicant’s complaint against these decisions, noting that the refusal to dispatch the letters had been based not on the fact that they were written in Kurdish but on the fact that their content was incomprehensible and therefore impossible to verify having regard in particular to the imperatives of order and security.
21.  On 10 October 2007 the Disciplinary Board decided to seize a letter the applicant had written in Kurdish, in conformity with section 68 § 3 of Law no. 5275 and rule 91 § 3 of the Prison Regulations, on the grounds that they had been unable to decipher the content of the letter because the prison staff did not understand Kurdish.
22.  On 20 November 2007, based on the case file, the enforcements judge rejected the applicant’s appeal. That decision was reached after the judge examined the public prosecutor’s submissions, according to which “it [was] necessary to have correspondence which was written in a language other than the official language translated, in order to have it checked in accordance with section 68 § 3 of Law no. 5275. The prison [had] no budget for translation costs. As the interested party had not paid for a translation himself, there [was] nothing wrong with the impugned decision.”
23.  On 18 December 2007, based on the case file, the Assize Court dismissed an appeal by the applicant against that decision, finding that there had been no procedural defect or error of law.
24.  On 21 January 2008, relying on Rules 91, 122 and 123 of the Prison Regulations, the Disciplinary Board decided not to send a letter the applicant had written in Kurdish. They explained that the prison had no staff to translate the letter and took note of the prisoner’s refusal to cover the cost of translation himself.
25.  On 6 February 2008, based on the case file, the Kocaeli enforcements judge found that the Board’s decision was in conformity with prison Rules 91, 122 and 123.
26.  On 28 February 2008, on the basis of the case file, the Kocaeli Assize Court rejected an appeal lodged by the applicant.
27.  On 2 May 2008, the Disciplinary Board decided to refuse to send a letter the applicant had written to his father in Kurdish, on the grounds that they could not understand its content and determine, as required by Rule 122 § 1, whether it was “inoffensive”. After pointing out that correspondence should, in principle be written in Turkish, they explained that they did not have any staff to translate the letter.
28.  On 20 May 2008, noting that the letter in question contained characters which were not in the Latin alphabet, the Bolu enforcements judge dismissed the applicant’s appeal, pointing out that while the right to correspondence was guaranteed, it was not unlimited, and that in this particular case it was not possible to ascertain whether the content of the letter fell within the scope of the restrictions set forth in section 68 § 3 of Law no. 5275.
29.  On 10 June 2008 the Bolu Assize Court observed that the reason behind the decision not to send the letter was not the fact that it was written in Kurdish but the fact that its content was incomprehensible, making it impossible to carry out the verification provided for in section 68 § 3 of Law no. 5275.